A known type of hand-operated vehicle parking brake uses a lever to tighten a brake cable, which is held taut by a locking pawl engaged with a ratchet. A typical lever ratio is 7 to 1 so a long lever is necessary. As the lever is integral with the mechanism, one cannot construct this lever from a flammable or meltable material such as certain plastics otherwise the brake could be released during a vehicle fire. During the lifetime of the vehicle adjustment of the hand brake is necessary, in order to take up sag in the cable. Hand brakes are noisy as the ratchet and pawl mechanism clicks as the brake is applied. Similar problems arise with foot-operated parking brakes. The object of this invention is to overcome some or all of these disadvantages.